Choosing Beauty

This one’s for you P.

Are you one of those wonderfully grounded people? You know – the kind who know exactly what is possible and practical and what is not, and don’t have a lot of patience for the latter? Who tend to take every major decision based on a careful analysis of multiple criteria chosen with a view to maximizing comfort? Who might often have an air of levity about them but almost never one of levitation? Well, if you are, I want to put on my philosopher cap and talk to you about bringing beauty into your life.

Now don’t get defensive…Gentle those hackles down. I’m not saying that you don’t recognize beauty or that you don't understand that it has many forms – from the stunning genius (and hot, muscled men) of the Sistine Chapel to a blazing orange-red-pink-purple hued sunset off the waters of Key West to the oratory of an inspirational leader, to the love of a nurturing, perhaps unhandsome, life-partner. I'm ready to accept that you recognize beauty, understand it and appreciate and enjoy it, that you value it and make place for it in your life.

I just think the amount of beauty in one’s life is a direct result of choices we make. And that too many people, specially if they have always had both feet solidly planted on earth, pick beauty too seldom. That when there is a choice to be made between beauty and comfort and/or security, many of us pick comfort and security. Even though we would like to pick the beautiful option. And we do it because we don’t realize the full extent of what we might be giving up.

Lets take how people choose homes as a way to illustrate what I mean. For example, one may choose to live in a window-less studio in downtown instead of an apartment with a view because it is 15 minutes further away from the freeway. Some people may pick a character-less apartment-box closer to office versus a pretty suburb with picket fences and manicured lawns (if that’s your thing) since it would add 40 minutes to the daily commute. Some may even decide not to rent an old Victorian house that totally charms them because it comes without a dish-washer and involves walking up four flights of stairs. Well of course, you say, all those decisions make sense on the face of it. Its just a question of what you value more…

It is. But I think in making these decisions one may not be doing all the right calculations. Have you thought that perhaps, being 15 minutes further from the freeway could put you 15 minutes closer to a daily walk on the beach, giving you a lifetime of splendid sunsets instead of just a couple of vacations’ worth of it. That it might increase the prospects of being woken up by itinerant parrots perched on your window-sill. It could mean the difference between needing a shrink and having a natural stress valve built into your home. Living in a pretty tree-lined green-grassed suburb might mean having your children grow up with a greater appreciation for the environment and a desire to protect and preserve it. Hell – it might make the difference between them making a movie about global warming…or claiming that it’s a hoax. And who knows what epiphanies might strike you while washing dishes at the sink – as a result of the confluence of the happy state induced by just being present in that charming Victorian and the soothing calm that repetitive simple manual labour brings. I mean, there’s gotta be a reason for why artists over the ages flocked to cities like Paris and Rome instead of say…Baltimore.

I feel that beauty inspires and works in ways that we may not fathom fully – and perhaps we should take a chance on it. More often that not.